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US Senator with longest continuous service
The Dean of the United States Senate is an informal term for the Senator with the longest continuous service, regardless of party affiliation. This is not an official position within the Senate, although customarily (since 1945) the longest-serving member of the majority party serves as President pro tempore.
The current Dean is Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont. He has been in the Senate since 1975, and became Dean in 2012 with the death in office of Daniel Inouye.
Party Deans
For additional information, here is a list of most senior Senators by party, listed in reverse chronological order.
Democratic
- Patrick Leahy (Vermont), 2012–present
- Daniel Inouye (Hawaii), 2010–2012
- Robert Byrd (West Virginia), 1989–2010
- John C. Stennis (Mississippi), 1981–1989
- Warren Magnuson (Washington), 1978–1981
- James Eastland (Mississippi), 1972–1978
- Allen J. Ellender (Louisiana), 1971–1972
- Richard B. Russell (Georgia), 1969–1971
- Carl Hayden (Arizona), 1957–1969
- Walter F. George (Georgia), 1953–1957
- Kenneth McKellar (Tennessee), 1944–1953
- Ellison D. Smith (South Carolina), 1931–1944
- Furnifold McLendel Simmons (North Carolina), 1923–1931
- Charles Allen Culberson (Texas), 1919–1923
- Thomas S. Martin (Virginia), 1918–1919
- Benjamin Tillman (South Carolina), 1910–1918
- John W. Daniel (Virginia), 1909–1910
- Henry M. Teller (Colorado), 1908–1909
- William Pinkney Whyte (Maryland), 1907–1908
- John Tyler Morgan (Alabama), 1905–1907
- Francis Cockrell (Missouri), 1895–1905
- Matt Whitaker Ransom (North Carolina), 1889–1895
- Eli M. Saulsbury (Delaware), 1885–1889
- Thomas F. Bayard (Delaware), 1873–1885
- George Vickers (Maryland), 1872–1873
- Garrett Davis (Kentucky), 1871–1872
- Willard Saulsbury Sr. (Delaware), 1865–1871
- John P. Hale (New Hampshire), 1864–1865
- James A. Bayard Jr. (Delaware), 1862–1864
- James Pearce (Maryland), 1856–1862
- Jesse D. Bright (Indiana), 1855–1856
- David Rice Atchison (Missouri), 1851–1855
- Thomas Hart Benton (Missouri), 1844–1851
- William R. King (Alabama), 1833–1844
- Mahlon Dickerson (New Jersey), 1828–1833
- Nathaniel Macon (North Carolina), 1826–1828
Republican
- Chuck Grassley (Iowa), 2019–present
- Orrin Hatch (Utah), 2013–2019
- Richard Lugar (Indiana), 2009–2013
- Ted Stevens (Alaska), 2003–2009
- Strom Thurmond (South Carolina), 1981–2003
- Milton R. Young (North Dakota), 1975–1981
- George Aiken (Vermont), 1963–1975
- Alexander Wiley (Wisconsin), 1961–1963
- Styles Bridges (New Hampshire), 1951–1961
- Arthur Vandenberg (Michigan), 1949–1951
- Arthur Capper (Kansas), 1945–1949
- Hiram W. Johnson (California), 1940–1945
- William E. Borah (Idaho) 1933–1940
- Reed Smoot (Utah), 1929–1933
- Francis E. Warren (Wyoming), 1924–1929
- Henry Cabot Lodge (Massachusetts), 1918–1924
- Jacob H. Gallinger (New Hampshire), 1913–1918
- Shelby Moore Cullom (Illinois), 1911–1913
- William P. Frye (Maine), 1911
- Eugene Hale (Maine), 1908–1911
- William B. Allison (Iowa), 1898–1908
- Justin Smith Morrill (Vermont), 1891–1898
- George F. Edmunds (Vermont), 1884–1891
- Henry B. Anthony (Rhode Island), 1875–1884
- Zachariah Chandler (Michigan), 1873–1875
- Henry Wilson (Massachusetts), 1872–1873
- Charles Sumner (Massachusetts), 1869–1872
- Benjamin Wade (Ohio), 1866–1869
- Solomon Foot (Vermont), 1861–1866
- William H. Seward (New York), 1854–1861
Whig
National Republican
Democratic-Republican
Federalist
Pro-Administration
Anti-Administration
